Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit Part I (Radio Program for WVNE 760 AM Worcester / Boston)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Matthew chapter 5 begins what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. And the

Sermon on the Mount is almost certainly the most well -known sermon Jesus ever preached. And the first 12 verses are known as the

Beatitudes. And that's the title of this morning's message, the Beatitudes. And before we begin reading, the word

Beatitude means an exalted state of blessing. So keep that in mind as we begin.

Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 1. In seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him.

Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

God. And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So this basically makes up the introduction to the

Sermon on the Mount. I like to make a few comments about the Sermon on the Mount because it has been interpreted differently by many groups over the centuries.

For example, the medieval church believed that the Sermon on the Mount represented a higher ethic directed mainly at clergy.

In more modern times, some dispensationalists have seen Jesus as speaking only to the

Jews, so this really isn't meant for New Testament Christians. This is just about the

Jews in the coming millennial kingdom. And then many of the old mainline

Protestant denominations have seen the Sermon on the Mount as basically being what is called the social gospel.

The liberal mainline denominations, generally speaking, they don't think that the true meaning of Christ was to come into the world to die as an atonement for sin and rise again to offer salvation and eternal life.

They believe the mission of Christ was to come and to teach people how to love and accept everybody and to minister to the poor.

Well, I think all three positions, while there may be a point or two to be made,

I think all three missed the mark. The primary intent of Christ in the

Sermon on the Mount is to expound upon the deeper implications of the

Mosaic law. Of course Jesus was talking to Jewish people.

There's no question about that. But the Jews, the problem with the Jews in the first century, they thought that salvation and their inheritance in the kingdom was, it belonged to them basically for two reasons.

Number one, they were descendants of Abraham. And then number two, they really believed they were keeping the law.

And what Jesus is trying to do, he's trying to get them to realize their need for repentance and grace.

And that they were misunderstanding the true intent of the law.

That nobody was able to truly keep it. So what is the purpose of the law of God?

Well, the purpose of the law, according to the Bible, is to reveal to a person that they are a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God.

And because all have fallen short, all are in need of God's grace, which is given through Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 56, he said the strength of sin is the law.

And in Galatians 3 24, he said the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

So in the Sermon on the Mount, what we see is an impossible standard.

And because it is impossible and because we have all fallen short, it shows us our need for repentance and God's grace.

And then once a person realizes that and they place their faith in Christ, then

God gives them a new heart. That heart of stone is removed. A heart of flesh is put in.

And then with the aid of the Spirit of God, a person is able to live as Christ would have them to live.

So let's go through these verses a little more closely. Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 1,

And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him.

So this is where some will question, okay, is Jesus speaking to the multitude? Because it looks like here he's just talking to his 12 disciples.

Well, here's the thing. Even if Jesus is only speaking to the 12, now under the new covenant, all men are commanded to repent and believe the gospel.

Acts chapter 17 verse 30. And all who believe are to become followers of Christ.

Matthew 28 verse 19. And what is a follower? A follower of Christ is a learner, a disciple.

Okay, so to say that this is only for the 12 disciples, therefore it's only for ordained clergy or it's only for the super committed followers of Christ.

Yeah, you're on shaky ground to say the least, if you think that. But look at verse 2.

It says, He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And just a side note, the term kingdom of heaven, basically it is synonymous with the term kingdom of God.

If you compare the Gospels, you will see that kingdom of heaven is unique to the

Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was directed more at a Jewish audience. The Jews were reluctant to use

God's name or to write God's name when it wasn't necessary. So to appeal to Jewish sensibilities,

Matthew, instead of calling it the kingdom of God, he calls it the kingdom of heaven. So verse 2.

Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Now this first statement, blessed are the poor in spirit, this is very interesting because in Luke chapter 6,

Jesus preaches a variation of the Sermon on the Mount. So Matthew 5 is known as the

Sermon on the Mount. Luke 6 could be called the Sermon on the Plain. That is, it was a flat plain, a level piece of ground in Matthew, excuse me, in Luke 6.

And in Luke 6, Jesus doesn't say blessed are the poor in spirit. He says blessed are you poor.

So what is Jesus talking about? So if you compare the two and look at the next statements from Christ, blessed are those who mourn and blessed are the meek.

Jesus is not speaking about poverty. That is, he is not speaking in the sense of a lack of material wealth.

Jesus is speaking about spiritual poverty. The poor in spirit, they mourn.

And yes, of course, many of them were poor, but it's more than that. They were outcasts.

They were low in spirit. These were the people that society didn't care about.

And such an existence is described by our Lord in Matthew 25 verses 42 and 43, when he spoke about the least of these, what did he say?

He said, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not take me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

And he calls them the least of these, my brethren. Now, listen, it's true.

We should reach out to all people, but there are some who need special attention.

We should not show partiality to one group over another. That is true, but there are people who need some special care and it is the duty of the

Christian to weep with those who weep and to comfort the broken hearted.

And you know, the, the way things are today, sometimes people lose sight of that.

The way things are today, things are so polarized that people are all in on one side or the other tends to be the way it goes.

And it's, it's easy to get too focused on, on one thing. For example, we could be so focused on sound doctrine that we forget mercy.

And then there are people that are so concerned with mercy and good works. Well, they don't care about doctrine.

So we need balance. The mature Christian life should be a life of balance.

Jesus was a strong man. He gave hard sayings. He reproved people.

He turned over the tables of the money changers and drove them out of the temple with a whip of cords.

That's true. But Jesus wasn't always like that, especially that last incident.

Jesus was also gentle. He was kind. There was a balance at times.

He was soft at times. He was very hard. So there is a balance.

Jesus said in Matthew 12 verse 20, the scripture says about him a bruised reed.

He will not break and smoking flax. He said these people, that is the bruised reed that he will not break and the smoking flax that he will not quench.

These people, these are the people that are deemed useless by the world.

Christ's work was to restore and rekindle such people and not to break them or quench them.

This speaks of his tender compassion toward the lowliest of the lost.

And he came not to gather the strong for a revolution, rather to show mercy to the weak.

My friends, the teachings of Christ, they go against the grain.

When Jesus appeared on the scene, that's what they wanted. They wanted a king. They wanted a man who would lead a revolution.

That's not what he came to do. Instead, he taught things that were counterintuitive.

They went against the grain. Just a few examples of this. Jesus said, whoever finds his life will lose it.

And whoever loses his life will find it. Jesus taught that if you want to be exalted, you must first do what?

You must humble yourself. We cannot be first unless we make ourselves last.

And then the Apostle Paul taught things like, when we are weak, then are we strong.

So before a person can be saved, they must first acknowledge they are lost and then be brought low by the conviction of God, the

Holy Spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. In Luke 6, he says, blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

And this weeping and this mourning is the mourning that a person faces when they are brought low, when they have a godly sorrow over sin.

The sorrow of the world is, hey, I'm sorry I got caught. But the sorrow of God is a genuine sorrow over sin, that we have offended a holy and righteous

God. Then and only then can a person be comforted by the grace of God in salvation.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.